In the U.S., credit unions have a clear organizational structure. All credit unions belong to one or the other parent credit union (there are 35 of them in the U.S.). Today in the UK there are about 700 credit unions with assets exceeding 200 million pounds. Principles of cooperative democracy and interaction were adequate to the purposes for which people joined credit unions. All the members of the credit union, regardless of gender, ethnicity, religious and political beliefs, as well as the size of the monetary share have equal rights. Shareholders in corporate organizations are basic credit unions, besides the same union can be a shareholder of several corporate organizations. Credit unions, like today's credit unions, emerged in the 19th century in Germany as a result of crop failure and famine.